Attorney Stephan E. Seeger works in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to settle a slander lawsuit against television host Nancy Grace. In a stipulation of settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford Wednesday, Seeger agreed to drop his case against the HLN pundit and fellow legal commentator Beth Karas for comments they made in a 2012 broadcast about DNA evidence near the scene of the crime. less

Attorney Stephan E. Seeger works in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to ... more

Attorney Stephan E. Seeger poses in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to settle a slander lawsuit against television host Nancy Grace. In a stipulation of settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford Wednesday, Seeger agreed to drop his case against the HLN pundit and fellow legal commentator Beth Karas for comments they made in a 2012 broadcast about DNA evidence near the scene of the crime. less

Attorney Stephan E. Seeger poses in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to ... more

Attorney Stephan E. Seeger poses in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to settle a slander lawsuit against television host Nancy Grace. In a stipulation of settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford Wednesday, Seeger agreed to drop his case against the HLN pundit and fellow legal commentator Beth Karas for comments they made in a 2012 broadcast about DNA evidence near the scene of the crime. less

Attorney Stephan E. Seeger poses in his law office in Stamford, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. Seeger, who represents Michael Skakel for the accused 1975 murder of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley, is set to ... more

As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit, the HLN/Nancy Grace website announces a correction to their reporting on the Michael Skakel trial stating there was never a DNA evidence linking Skakel to the murder of Martha Moxly. less

As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit, the HLN/Nancy Grace website announces a correction to their reporting on the Michael Skakel trial stating there was never a DNA evidence linking Skakel to the murder of ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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Television host Nancy Grace. As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit, the HLN/Nancy Grace website announced a correction to their reporting on the Michael Skakel trial stating there was never a DNA evidence linking Skakel to the murder of Martha Moxly. less

Television host Nancy Grace. As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit, the HLN/Nancy Grace website announced a correction to their reporting on the Michael Skakel trial stating there was never a DNA evidence ... more

Photo: Frederick M. Brown, Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Nancy Grace takes back her words on Skakel

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Nancy Grace has disavowed comments saying DNA evidence linked Michael Skakel to the murder of Martha Moxley, as part of an out-of-court settlement ending a defamation lawsuit filed against the cable-television pundit and her media company.

A statement from the "Nancy Grace" show posted Thursday called the statements she made in 2012 inaccurate, and the show's parent company has scrubbed any reference to those remarks across its media holdings.

The lawsuit claimed Skakel was slandered by remarks made between Grace and another pundit on HLN (formerly Headline News), an affiliate of CNN.

Skakel's Stamford attorney, Stephan Seeger, called the settlement a vindication.

"CNN owned their conduct -- period. They got it wrong, and they set the record straight," Seeger said.

The statement released Thursday by Grace's corporate employer retracted her comments.

"HLN's Nancy Grace show mistakenly reported that DNA evidence linking Michael Skakel to the murder of Martha Moxley was found at the crime scene. This aspect of its report is inaccurate. There was never any DNA evidence offered in the trial linking Michael Skakel to the murder of Martha Moxley," the statement read.

Seeger would not say what financial deals were made as part of the settlement, portions of which are confidential.

The defamation lawsuit filed against Grace and legal commentator Beth Karas followed a discussion they held about the murder case against Skakel, who was convicted in 2002 of killing Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley on Oct. 20, 1975. The settlement was approved Thursday, on the 39th anniversary of the murder.

Skakel is now out of prison on $1.2 million bond and awaits a new trial, following his successful appeal last year that his murder trial was flawed.

During the televised discourse, Grace and Karas discussed what they said was DNA evidence that linked Skakel to the killing, semen stains on a tree near the Skakel home.

Seeger said that inaccurate report could have prevented Skakel from getting a fair trial in the future.

"The dangerous part when statements like that get made, for a person who is about to go to trial, is they have to face a jury someday," he said.

Seeger said Skakel's defense team wanted to ensure that erroneous information would not put their client at a disadvantage. "We continue on a daily basis to prepare for trial," he said. No schedule has been set yet for Skakel's retrial. A state appeal of the judge's decision to negate Skakel's guilty verdict is also pending.

Seeger said the defense team wants the focus of forensic evidence to center on two hairs found near Moxley's body that he said did not belong to his client.

A spokeswoman for the defendants in the defamation case did not offer any new information.

"The settlement terms are confidential. We think the filings and publicly available materials speak for themselves," said Alison Rudnick of HLN.

The two commentators were discussing Skakel's unsuccessful bid for parole at the time, when they made reference to a "peeping-Tom" masturbation episode that Skakel had recounted to an investigator working for his legal team. That led to the claim that DNA was recovered.

During the legal proceedings over the lawsuit, HLN lawyers argued Skakel had been convicted in the case and that he was a public figure -- setting a much higher legal threshold for defamation.

Skakel served 11 years in prison after his conviction for the Halloween eve murder in his Belle Haven neighborhood. Both he and Moxley, who was beaten to death with a golf club, were 15 at the time of the crime.